spell Shapechange
Shapechange
This spell functions like polymorph, except that it enables you to assume the form of any single nonunique creature (of any type) from Fine to Colossal size.
This material is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.
Transmutation
Level Animal 9, Druid 9, Sorcerer/Wizard 9
Components V, S, F
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range Personal
Target You
Duration 10 min./level (D)
The assumed form cannot have more than your caster level in Hit Dice (to a maximum of 25 HD). Unlike polymorph, this spell allows incorporeal or gaseous forms to be assumed.
You gain all extraordinary and supernatural abilities (both attacks and qualities) of the assumed form, but you lose your own supernatural abilities. You also gain the type of the new form in place of your own. The new form does not disorient you. Parts of your body or pieces of equipment that are separated from you do not revert to their original forms.
You can become just about anything you are familiar with. You can change form once each round as a free action. The change takes place either immediately before your regular action or immediately after it, but not during the action. If you use this spell to create a disguise, you get a +10 bonus on your Disguise check.
Mythical Context
Ovid’s Metamorphoses records transformations into animals, trees and other forms, often with the old identity still visible in the new shape. Shapechange invites similar questions: what remains constant when outward anatomy can be shed at will? See the Metropolitan Museum’s illustrated Ovid.
Historical Context
Renaissance editions of ancient transformation stories used printed woodcuts to make such changes visible. A Venetian Ovid edition from 1501 documents the continuation of that artistic tradition—not the historical practice of bodily shapechanging. See the Metropolitan Museum’s early printed Metamorphoses.
Focus A jade circlet worth no less than 1,500 gp, which you must place on your head when casting the spell. (The focus melds into your new form when you change shape.)
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